Correlates of Depressive Symptoms

What is it about?

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Specifically, this study presents a brief review of protective and risk correlates of depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, with an ecological perspective. Individual risk correlates, such as low self-esteem and high levels of rumination; peer correlates, such as social withdrawal and limited social networks; family correlates, such as parent-child triangulation and high parental expectations, are significantly associated with adolescent depression. Moreover, individual protective correlates, such as hope and positive affect; social-related correlates, such as extensive social network and peer support; and family correlates, such as high parental warmth and family cohesion, were considered factors to reduce the risk of depression.

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Why is it important?

Adolescent depression has been shown to be increasing in Hong Kong. There is a need to address this problem. The studies of the risk and protective factors have focused on how individual, peer, and family predictors are related to depressive symptoms.